IX 



Indeed as it is, some gentlemen when selling 

 their horses, have been so much annoyed 

 that they have given up warranting altoge- 

 ther; and they contend that it is upon the 

 whole the best way. But to me it appears 

 otherw^ise; for it would encourage all sorts 

 of knavery, the purchaser would be com- 

 pletely at the mercy of the seller, and it 

 would very much impede the transaction of 

 business. It is often said that a horse is like 

 a lottery ticket, but he would be much more 

 so if he were never warranted. The irre- 

 gular mode in which horse-dealing is man- 

 aged, makes it more a lottery than it naturally 

 is. Alter the system, and fewer warranties 

 will be asked, and fewer objections will be 

 made to granting them. The purchaser can- 

 not return the horse without a veterinary 

 surgeon's certificate that he is unsound, and 

 that the cause of that unsoundness existed 

 prior to sale; and therefore the seller runs 

 no risk, if the horse is really sound when sold. 

 He should, however, reject the opinion of a 



